George Pennacchio of On The Red Carpet was at the Dancing With The Stars Cast Announcement to interview all the couples today. It’s so great to see him as always and he dives right into it all asking the couples on their strengths and weaknesses. We also find out what dance some of the couples have? Are you ready? Let’s do it…

First up, Dorothy and Tristan! Dorothy Hamill is so excited to dance with her new teacher. Tristan is also excited to have an athlete and to see how Dorothy can move. He’s looking forward to teaching her. They both think her competitiveness, experience, and confidence on the ice rink in the past will be her strengths. Isn’t it great to see her again Ice Skating fans? Wow!

Jacoby and Karina!! George thinks Jacoby is going to be one of the most “playful” contestants this season. He’s goofy too, but, Karina says he’s already a task master just like with his football ability. The Cha Cha is their first dance and Jacoby says he hopes to bring a “big personality” to the dance floor.

Ingo and Kym! George first brings up about how Ingo is an athlete and a “Stand Up Paddler”. Ingo is scared though and jokes about a nightmare he had with a horrible costume design. His one word to describe Dancing With The Stars right now is “panic”, but, Kym is confident in him. They have a contemporary dance as their first dance and he is doing good in practice so far.

Mark says Aly is sassy, bright, and bubbly and is ready to go. He couldn’t have asked for a better partner. They talk of Aly’s personality, showmanship, discipline, and grace for a couple of her characteristics she will bring to the show. They are anxious to get started.

George starts out telling Andy how fearless he is. Sharna says they’ve already been working hard and that they’ve already built trust and a foundation. She thinks Andy is going to surprise America. They will bring comic relief, but, Andy is hoping to show people he can dance too. He’s competitive and doesn’t want to be voted off. They have the Fox Trot as their first dance. Sharna says Andy is already connecting to the character.

Zendaya wants Val to be tough and serious with her and yet, she wants to have fun too. Val says Zendaya is his first priority now and he’s excited for their story to happen. She’s looking forward to learn more other kinds of dancing versus rap for what she’s use to. She wants to do her very very best. Great attitude.

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

The Baltimore Ravens Jacoby Jones is excited and ready to dance. He tells NFL AM that he plans to win and put the mirror ball trophy beside his Superbowl trophy. They show scenes of Jacoby in the end zone getting “jiggy with it” showing how he has some “moves” (hey, and he is not bad!). Jacoby also talks of the Super Bowl, his take on the team’s future, and lots more. Fun interview. Be sure to see and listen to it HERE.

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

And so the interviews begin for Dancing With The Stars Season 16 and first up is ….Ingo Rademacher!!! Ingo not only stars on General Hospital, but, he also likes to surf too. He tells YoloBoard that he can’t dance, but, things are going well with partner Kym Johnson so far. Here is more including his thoughts for how surfing might help…

YOLO: Can you dance?

Ingo: Not yet, but I really hope I’m going to learn. This is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done.

YOLO: Who is your dance partner?

Ingo: Kym Johnson. She has won DWTS twice already! We’ve had a couple of rehearsals and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. It’s working well so far but that doesn’t mean I can dance yet

YOLO: Do you think your stand up paddling has helped prepare you for DWTS?

Ingo: Yes! Especially all the SUP surfing I’ve been doing lately in Hawaii on my 9’2 YOLO surf model, which involves a lot of squatting, balancing and lunging. But dancing is so different… everything hurts at the moment. When it’s all said and done, I think my legs will be in good shape for the 32 mile long Molokai race in July this summer.

You can read this interview in full at YoloBoard. Be sure to see the pic they are featuring of Ingo too.

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

Not sure how many of you are interested in Wendy William’s thoughts on the new cast of Dancing With The Stars Season 16, but, here you go. I just have to say….I can’t wait for some of the couples to prove her wrong on some of the things she says.

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.

You guys were probably just as shocked as I was to hear this morning that we were only going to have 11 couples on this season…after hearing 12 couples for quite awhile. Also shocking to not hear Sean Lowe’s name called as one of the celebs, as he was a name we were hearing quite a bit, and shocking to not hear Peta’s name as a pro, considering that she had been confirmed by @DWTSGossip as being part of this season…and DWTSGossip seemed just as shocked as we were.

So what happened? We’re not sure – some are guessing that the deal fell through at the last minute, others are surmising that Sean IS part of the cast, but they are going to wait to reveal him until after The Bachelor finale. In the absence of anything official, we can only speculate. Reality Steve, who has a pretty damn good track record of predicting Bachelor-related stuff, assures us that Sean IS part of the cast:

ETA1: Reality Steve goes into more detail in his most recentBachelor blog – and I daresay, someone with a spoiler history as credible as his would not just be making claims like this willy-nilly. I’m starting to believe that we may get a “surprise” 12th couple sometime in the next few weeks…

ETA2: In herOTRC interview, Lisa comments on how it’s “an honor to be one of the 12 chosen” to be on the show. There were only 11 celebs announced this morning Thanks to Grant for the heads-up on this one!

ETA3:Peta tweetsthat she has a “big day today!” and that it’s “time to play” – which makes me wonder if she’s either a) meeting Sean for the first time, or b) starting to rehearse with Sean. And OMG! Insider (totally dumb name for a show, BTW) jumps on the “mystery 12th contestant” bandwagonin a video that Vogue just posted. Now I’m really starting to believe that Sean’s the 12th contestant, and that ABC maybe just can’t mention it outright for contractual reasons…but they are hinting at it in a not-so-subtle way.

ETA4: @KrissmissHampton was in the live audience at the announcement yesterday and was kind enough to tweet me and tell me that, after the cameras stopped rolling, they were told that “a 12th couple would be announced at a later date”. Thanks Kristina! I’m wondering if they were initially going to announce it on the air, but ran out of time…things seemed to get a little rushed at the end. Heidi also dug up some more evidence confirming the “12th couple” theory, courtesy of US Magazine. So there is, indeed, a 12th couple – but is it safe to assume that it’s Sean & Peta?

I’m inclined to believe Reality Steve, but at the same time, if ABC had a 12th couple up their sleeve, I would think they would at least tease it during the announcement this morning: “Stay tuned in the coming days, because there is still a surprise 12th couple, yet to be revealed!” Peta has not said a word on Twitter this morning, nor has Sean (although I doubt he would), and neither one is following each other – could be a precaution so as not to reveal anything, could be that they really aren’t on the show. What do you guys think?

In the meantime, we will keep our eyes peeled and update this post with anything official we hear. Random…anyone else think Sean kinda looks like Macklemore?

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble. Check out some of my other work at pureamericasgottalent.com!

Apparently, there was another announcement for yesterday – don’t know what happened to that one, but Derek’s publicist made it clear that this is a different one. And pretty exciting as well. But I don’t have Starz. Yet. From The Hollywood Reporter (click to read the whole thing):

Julianne and Derek Houghare delving into a world with which they’re familiar.

The brother-sister pair is developing a Starz scripted drama set in the world of competitive ballroom dancing, for which they will draw on years of first-hand experiences as competitors at the world championship level. TitledBlackpool, the drama effort will revolve around the prestigious annual ballroom competition in Blackpool, England, with a focus on the darker side of ballroom dancing.

“When you’re in the world, you’re so invested. It’s literally the be-all and end-all. But when you step back from it, you see that obsession with perfection and the fact that the lifestyle that you thought was so glamorous is actually a little shocking,” Julianne Hough says in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The comment comes mere weeks after Hough revealed in a Cosmopolitan cover story that she was a victim of physical and emotional abuse as a young dancer living in England.

Her brother, who appears on Dancing With the Stars,one of the many TV series that have capitalized on the interest in the dancing genre in recent years, makes clear that the series will push into particularly bleak areas of the sport. “What makes it so interesting is seeing all of the politics and the scandal,” says Derek Hough. “It’s framed in the world of ballroom dancing, but the stories that are intertwined are of the partnerships and the sex and the love triangles.”

In addition to lending their own tales from the ultra-competitive world, the Houghs will serve as executive producers on the project as well as the head choreographers. At this time, they have no plans to appear on screen, though they do intend to be actively involved in the process of hiring and casting. Julianne, currently on an international press tour for her film Safe Haven, notes that she is currently meeting with potential writers in London.

The siblings acknowledge that this drama is something that they have toyed with bringing to the small screen for some time. They shopped it to a handful of networks but suggest that they were particularly struck by Starz CEO Chris Albrecht’s passion for it in the room. And while they have a deep well from which to draw from, they don’t intend to make this an autobiographical tale. “We definitely want it to be fictionalized,” says Julianne. “We’re going to start with our experiences in the world and stories that we’ve either seen or gone through, but it’ll be fun to be able to elaborate and fictionalize these characters.”

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Woohoooooo! After weeks of few casting rumors and a hectic week of pro watching, the big day is finally here: today we find out who’s going to be dancing on season 16, and who they’ll be dancing with (I presume). I’m assuming this cast announcement is going to pretty closely mirror the season 14 cast announcement, which was also on GMA: they kill time and tantalize us with periodic clues and whatnot for the first hour or so, then they announce all of the celebs, take a commercial break, announce which pro each celeb is paired with, take another commercial break, have a brief Q&A session with the couples, and then they’re done. A lot less painless than sitting through the fauxmance and schlock of The Bachelor, if you ask moi

First, a few ground rules: please, please, PLEASE do NOT keep hitting refresh repeatedly on this page! We keep upgrading our server, but during high-traffic times (such as the cast announcement), things tend to get a bit…wonky. If you keep hitting refresh, I cannot get in the dash to update the page, and thus nobody gets any updates. Try to keep the refreshing limited to every 15 minutes, k? You can also feel free to follow @puredwts on Twitter – Heidi will be tweeting the names as they’re announced as well. Also, if you’re watching the announcement yourself (or are carefully monitoring Twitter/the interwebs) and hear the names, PLEASE – do not post them in the comments if you don’t see them posted in the body of the post (looking at YOU, Grant). Not only does this also clog up the server and prevent me from updating the post, it also irritates the hell out of me, as I am not a) Amish, b) broke, or c) living in a van down by the river, and I, like you, have television, internet, and Twitter. If you don’t see it posted, it’s because I’m still trying to get into the dash – not because I don’t see it.

UPDATE: Moving the list of couples up to the top of the page for those who don’t want to hear all my play-by-plays I went ahead and putSean & Petaon the list, but they are by no means a sure thing…

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble. Check out some of my other work at pureamericasgottalent.com!

I know we’re all still reeling from the whiplash of Pro Watch – old pros are sitting this one out, entirely new pros are being brought in, troupe members are getting promoted, and the status of some pros seems to change from “out” to “in” and back again on a daily basis. The general question on everyone’s lip: “WTF is going on at DWTS??!!!”

While I don’t have a ton of insider info about what’s going on with the casting (even the insiders seem to be somewhat in the dark this season!), I do have a theory or two, and some knowledge of previous seasons to help back up said theories – and I’m about to share one with you that may or may not put things in perspective, and may or may not help ease your concerns…but it’s one that at least makes some sense, given what we’ve seen unfolding the past week or so and what we know of previous seasons. Take it with a biiiiig grain of salt, as I’m not 100% confident in the veracity of some of the claims made in it. And Maks fans of the hypersensitive persuasion should probably just stop reading right now.

First, let’s go back in time to about 2.5 years ago – the week or so leading up to the season 11 cast annoucement. Lacey had tweeted something cranky (and characteristically “Lacey”) about not being part of that season’s cast, and we were led to believe that she would be sitting that season out. About 36-48 hours later, we were smacked in the face by the news that Edyta had suddenly quit DWTS, and Lacey was then excitedly tweeting that she was back in as one of the pros. What happened??? Allegedly (and I’m using this as a precaution, as the info I’m about to share has been culled from multiple sources – some more credible than others, and not all of it matches up), Edyta had tried leveraging in her negotiations with TPTB – some think she was upset that her husband Alec wasn’t getting asked back as a pro, some say she was upset about the partner she got (which confuses me – read on), some say she was holding out for more $$$, who knows. Whatever it was, I guess Edyta tried to throw her weight around as the longest-tenured pro on the show (at the time) and gave the producers an ultimatum: “You give me [insert demand here] or I quit.” To which the producers replied, “K, bye then!” I’m guessing Edyta wasn’t expecting them to call her bluff, and she also doesn’t strike me as the type who will swallow their pride easily, so of course, she had to follow through on her promise, and out she went. Read more..

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble. Check out some of my other work at pureamericasgottalent.com!

…I was going to say it…okay, I’ll say it. A Dick. Andy Dick, that is. All according to Radar Online. Keep in mind that Radar Online has gotten it wrong before…but they’ve also been right. Nothing confirmed until tomorrow.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

First of all, I just want to start out this bio by sending a huge huge congratulations to dance pro Gleb Savchenko and welcoming him to the United States to dance on Dancing With The Stars!!!

Many of you are asking, “Who is Gleb Savchenko?” and, what’s more, many are assuming Gleb is an “unknown” and/or maybe not worthy or deserving of this promotion. Not true in a worldly sense! Gleb is a highly decorated dancer and in some cases more decorated than some of the current and past pros of Dancing With The Stars. He’s not just a pretty face and he’s worked hard to get where he is today.

Gleb was born in Moscow, Russia on September 16, 1983 (A Virgo!!) and has been dancing since the age of 7. According to his official site, dancing first started out as just as hobby, but, soon his parents saw that Gleb had a talent for dancing and decided to enroll him in dance school. From there, he excelled and soon started competing in Ballroom and Latin American dancing.

Gleb has also studied drama and theatre arts at the Moscow Theatre Arts University graduating from the Russian Theatre Arts University with Masters in Choreography. Gleb has won six Professional Latin Dance Championships across the world since 2007:

Australasian Professional Latin Championship
Australian South Pacific Championship
Canberra Open Professional Championship
Closed Hong Kong Championship
Open Asia Tour Championship
United Kingdom Championship

Gleb was ranked #10 in the World in the Pro-Latin American division by the World Dance Council. Below is some dance footage of he and his dance partner Elena Samodanova. Read more..

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud.